So the Gobi desert is barren. Day 15 saw us travel south from Ulan Bataar through this dusty, flat expanse of arid southern Mongolia passing only the occasional nomadic settlement. Dusty and with our desert quota fully satisfied, we crossed into China, a regular 6 hour overnight border stop made more interesting than normal by the changing of the entire train's wheels - a process requiring all 20 or so carriages to be craned into the air with us on board, and wheel sets removed and replaced. Kind of like a Transmongolian style F1 pitstop!
Rolling through northern China the difference was immediately apparent with denser, modern industrial and residential development as the land grew greener. Our first view of the Great Wall as we raced through the sandy landscape northwest of Beijing saw most of the "foreigners" carriage leaning out of the windows - even at a distance this incredible wonder is a sight to behold.
As soon as you step out of Beijing's main station, the impressiveness, partial modernity and scale of China's capital becomes apparent. Street cafes mix with street sellers, motorbikes mix with modern buses and luxury cars as glistening tower blocks rapidly take the place of low rise development. Whatever geo-political view you may have, the development of Beijing is a sight to behold, and for those with money and life to take full advantage of.
Day 17 saw Ally (who kindly put us up for the night, took us to see a pretty incredible acrobatic show and fed us pekin duck) acting as tour guide - all you need is a microphone and a flag mate and you'd be cut out for it we think - taking us on an express trip to the Mutianyu stretch of the Great Wall of China, just 70 km north of Beijing. With the weather clear (apparently a rare event) even the towers of the city could be seen on the horizon as we hiked 6 km or so along one of the true wonders of the world, wondering how on earth the 6,000 km structure could ever have been built now, let alone over 2,000 years ago.
Sweating now as our southerly path sees the temperatures rise, a rapid walk through of Tianamen Square and the Forbidden City led us to Beijing's West Station. After climbing over several people, many bags and turfing two locals out from our seats (the sleeper beds were all sold out and the train was PACKED such is the demand for travel in China) we made ourselves as comfy as possible for the 29 hour ride south west over the lowlands of China to Nanning, the closest major city and gateway to China's friend/enemy, Vietnam.
29 hours is a long time, but true to our limited time in China in this trip, the train was kept clean, and people were friendly even with our almost non-existent Chinese. We resisted the 10 minute sales cycle by the train crew, but could easily have given in and ended up with towels, combs, pens, fruit, noodles, beer and a whole host of other apparently world beating products. And after all 29 hours seated beats the 10 hours some of the passengers spent standing...
Late night arrival in Nanning (a pretty sizeable city at over 1 million people, worthy of more than the inset style map in our 2004 Lonely Planet) saw a rapid negotiation for a room in the Railway Hotel, then dinner at a night food stand ready for another early start the next day.
Train tickets negotiated and purchased, we made a quick 50 km trip out to Yangmei to see a little of China's countryside. The drive felt like an excursion around a building site, with roads and railways being built on both sides, juxtaposed by the paddy field workers continuing to toil with their ox drawn ploughs around the concrete bridges and earthworks. After another delicious meal, we were back in the train station ready to head south west, to Vietnam.
Ulan Bataar - Beijing: 31 train hours / ~ km
Beijing - Nanning: 29 train hours / ~2,000 km
FUND RAISING TOTAL: GBP 2,800 including Gift Aid - please keep these donations to Doctors of the World coming in!
No comments:
Post a Comment